The Peach Tree Flag

One of our Safety Officers sent me a flag that needed replacing. It had a small tear on the bottom corner. A seam had come loose.

The officer there was a Marine. He didn't wait for it to tatter to pieces. I brought it home, it wasn't finished.

It was Memorial Day weekend. I always fly the flag. I remember once telling my son I had to get my flag up. It was June 14th and I said, 'It's Flag Day." The steely artillery officer said, "Dad, every day is Flag Day."

I felt like Betsy Ross stitching the seams back together. I wondered what she must have been thinking. Did she miss a stitch too as tears swelled with pride for that first flag? Why, it looks good as new. And, big!

It was as wide as the pole my old flag flew from. And, unfurled, it was too long to fly from my front porch. The poles in the attic were too flimsy to support it. What possible perch could I find to display it with pride?

The old peach tree only had two green branches left. It bravely gave up about a dozen delicious peaches this year. "Better cut it down soon," my arborist wife lamented. I sighed, but agreed it should be done.

It wasn't like Iwo Jima, nothing like that. But as I stood under that barren tree and stared at its splendor, I envisioned how glorious it would be, if just for this weekend. For that grand old flag to wave, in all its glory, from its strongest branch!

I don't know about you, but I still get tears in my eyes when I see it wave. I love America, and thank God that I, an immigrant's grand son, was born here. God bless America, and God bless that grand old flag. Long may it stand for Freedom, and long may it wave.

George Markos, Retired Consultant for Fishmore & Dolittle

(My son Chuck retired as a Lieutenant Colonel, U. S. Army)

The Hand Bell Choir

When I went to college in Jacksonville in 1965 I worked part time at Western Auto. My “room” cost $6 a week with a shared bathroom and no kitchen. I had a hot plate for a can of Ravioli and French bread with grape jam in a suitcase. 

Sunday morning I went to my Methodist church service. Sunday night I went to the Baptist Youth meeting directly across the street because they had hot dogs and potato chips. But on Wednesday night I attended the Presbyterian Church because they had a covered dish supper. I ate a lot, so to avoid being that obvious I joined the Hand Bell Choir. 

The only musical training I had was singing in the choir at Grace Methodist and in Ollie Whittles’ Glee Club in the 11th grade. The pastor invited me over to his house after one service and left me sitting in the living room with his lovely daughter as he and his wife went to bed. I had a girl friend in Sanford and asked her to marry me that Christmas Eve. So, I had to stop going for the covered dish supper. 

I dropped 10 lbs. from what I weighed at graduation. I often wondered how good a ding-a-linger I really could have been.

I'm not perfect....

Do Not Fear... You Are Mine

The Shack... My Response to a Review

The Shack

One of the reasons I quit my job and went to a Christian college when I was 34 years old was to not have to depend on anyone, including my pastor, to tell me what the Bible says and how to interpret it.

The best thing that happened was that I am not challenged by any other religion and can witness to anyone regardless of their background. I usually state, “Great, so you believe in God…” and then share how Jesus Christ paid their sin debt.

My father didn’t get saved until he was 58 and I lost a son in a tragic accident when he was 17. The Shack challenged me to separate my understanding of the attributes of God that I derived from my father, and it helped me to finally grieve the loss of my son Corey.

I literally would be laughing my head off and then sobbing out loud from one page to the other. I understand that the book is a fictional story and not the Bible.

Calvin Miller’s Trilogy – The Singer, The Song and The Finale also allowed me to see God from a different perspective. He wrote: Institutions have a poor safety record. The guillotines of orthodoxy keep a clean blade that is always honed for heresy. And somewhere near the place where witches die an unseen sign is posted whose invisible letters clearly read:

WE ARE PROUD TO REPORT 0 WORKING DAYS LOST TO INJURY OR ACCIDENT – THE MANAGEMENT. Let us pray.

(See Note in Comment below.)

Eternal Life is a Free Gift

God sent his Son that we might have life.

ROMANS 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Salvation is a word we use for being set free from the effects  and the penalty of sin. It includes being delivered from the dominion of the devil. It was purchased for us by Jesus Christ through giving His own life at Calvary, as our substitute.

Salvation is not something you earn, but a free gift from God totally by His grace.

Humans have invented many religions with all kinds of rules,  trying to make themselves acceptable to God. But being right with God is not something we can achieve by our own efforts. God loved us so much that He accomplished it for us, and provides it as a free gift available to all who receive Jesus.

The Bible tells us we will be rewarded for the good we do. But it is not by doing good deeds, performing certain rituals, or by keeping a list of rules, that we are saved from sin and its effects. Salvation and having a home in Heaven are not rewards-- they are gifts.
 

ROMANS 3:21-23

But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago.

We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard.

Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.

You cannot earn salvation and being right with God. You can only receive it as a gift of love from God. It comes in the form of a Divine Person, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Outside of union with Jesus Christ, there is no salvation.

ACTS 4:12

There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.

If you believe this, then tell God:

“Right here, and right now, I receive Jesus Christ as my free gift, thank you for giving me eternal life. Amen!”